Oil on Acrylic on MDF support
20 x 20 x .06 cm, 8 x 8 x .20″ (approx)
A vibrant painting with lots of movement and energy. I love her expression as the girl sits on her swing… it’s as if she holds the secret to life and living…. and she probably does.
Have a beautiful day!
Be well…
Technorati Tags: figure, greece, impressionism, oil painting, portrait, puppy
Oil on gessoes hardboard
18 x 24cm, 7 x 9.4″
Maria was my Yiayia (grandmother). I found this photo yesterday and thought I’d give it a try. She’ll need some drying time before I can go back in and make some adjustments in skin tone and some of the features. Kudos to those who can do portraits easily. I find it very challenging and exciting.   It’s not even getting the features exactly right, but the subtlety of expression that gives the portrait life. It is like writing. In creating the character, what comes alive is not what the character looks like, but the little quirks and mannerisms of that character that ultimately makes the character breathe. If I don’t completely mess up the next stage of this portrait, I’ll post her. If I do mess her up, I may even post the flop.  It would be a great excercise in ego-dousing. The thing about any flop is that all the chance for greatness lies in the mistakes. Noticing the mistakes makes you more aware and so you seek knowledge and thus learn. It may take a while for the new knowledge to manifest into good brushwork, or the right curve around the nostil, or a believable skin color, but it is bound to happen.
I continue to strive for a post a day. With the summer season coming fast, and tons of work outside, I may only get to post a few times a week.  I have been struggling with this the past week when I saw that I didn’t have a painting to post. I’m letting myself off the hook. I realized yesterday, as I was painting Maria, that I am more interested in the process of painting rather than painting just to get a post up. It is my way of nurturing integrity in the artistic process.
Be well.
